


Two Years Sober

by kiranovember



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 16:38:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiranovember/pseuds/kiranovember
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is how it starts, with a lunatic in a suit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ghost

This is how it starts:

Lionel is nursing his usual hangover when the lunatic in the suit shows up. Right there, in the precinct, bold as brass. After he leaves, Lionel tells himself, not for the first time, that he needs to cut down on his drinking. He never has, though. If he wasn't drunk most nights he might start thinking, and that is something he has worked hard to avoid. Still, that night when he stops at the bar he tells himself just one or two. It ends up being five or six, but at least it isn't nine or ten.


	2. Cura te Ipsum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It gets weird.

It gets weird.

Watching the jackass in the suit take apart the cartel boys shows him just how big a mistake he'd made. At three in the morning, more than half in the bag, it had seemed like such a good idea. A win-win. The weird part is he doesn't get punished. The suit just says not to do it again then rewards him with a transfer to the Homicide Task Force. The captain is pissy and his new partner suspicious; he'd better keep sharp. That night at the bar one or two really is just two.


	3. Judgement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shame.

Shame.

It starts as anger. Who the hell is this guy to dismiss Lionel's offer to help with a missing kid? That's what cops are for, right? But he hasn't given Mr. Creepy any reason to think of him as a cop. Not a good cop, anyway. Hell, he hasn't given himself any reason, either. So he buckles down and surprises himself and his new partner with some good policework, and gets the Suit the info he needs to save the kid. But even a couple of bourbon-and-sodas can't wash away the lingering taste of shame.


	4. Witness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you, like me, am frustrated by stories with very short chapters, then I apologize. The original chapter popped into my head at drabble length and they've just kept on that way. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth - short is good if I can keep it going until I finish.

The punch hurts. So does the distrust.

Lionel's day has had its ups and downs. Between him and Carter they brought in both Yogorov boys, but the witness they thought they were saving turned out to be the new don. Slim chance that that won't come back to bite them all on the ass. He met the boss, got called a rat, then got an apology and a handkerchief that probably cost as much as Lionel's suit. Mr. Sunshine wasn't happy but didn't take it out on him so all in all he guessed it didn't suck to be him today. A bunch of them went out to celebrate after and wasn't that a change - celebrating some legitimate policework. He could get used to this. After one bourbon he switches to beer and goes home still mostly sober.


	5. Foe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So now he's on speed dial for the boss, too.

So now he's on speed dial for the boss, too. Don't they know he has another job already? As if it ain't enough he's keeping an eye on Carter as well as trying to sweeten her attitude towards Tall, Dark, and Vigilante while trying to look like he deserves to be on the Homicide Task Force. It's actually a pretty good day, though. He and Carter double-team the german guy and start to get some real intel from him before Mr. Asshole Diplomat shows up, and hey, he even gets to rescue the Suit. Not that he gets a thank you or anything. The old spy ends up dead (what a surprise) and that means they get to close two homicides and one attempted on the same day they happened. Not bad. Not bad at all.


	6. Get Carter, Number Crunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carter thanked him, alright, just before she got him shot.

It starts with a drive-by. Carter takes it personal, but then Carter takes a lot of things personal. The Suit shows up at the crime scene but doesn't seem too interested. Must not be one of his people, then. The next day, though, he's on the phone with Lionel, wanting to know what Carter's doing, who she's taking to, where she's going. Turns out he's trying to protect _her_ even though letting whatever is going to happen, happen would make the Suit's life easier. Lionel knows that Carter, that officers like Carter (not that there are many) are important to the city and the department; that both need officers who care enough to put in the effort even on routine cases, who are working to close cases and not actively aid and abet criminals. Carter is even trying to _prevent_ homicide, by talking to that battered wife, trying to get her to press charges. Lionel gets what she's about, even if he's only just beginning to feel that way himself again, but he doesn't know why the Suit cares. 

Mr. Sunshine turns pro-active on this, beating Carter to the house and wrapping up the husband, trashing the garage, and Fusco could have sworn one of those SWAT guys moved awfully familiar. In the morning he gets the full story, how Tall, Dark, and Lethal showed up just in time to take out her CI after the guy put two in her vest. She insists she's still trying to catch him, that if she catches him, she'd arrest him, not thank him, but Lionel is pretty sure she'll say thank you at some point. That's just how she is.

He's right. She thanked him, alright, just before she got him shot.

He thinks about going out to celebrate getting out from under the Jackass's thumb, but then remembers the boss, Mr. Good News. He decides he'd better wait and see if the guy survives, or if the boss puts him to work.


	7. Legacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For a guy with a limp he does a hell of a lot of walking.

These days the Suit is more sarcastic than threatening, but that doesn't mean Lionel appreciates the attitude when he's trying to do what the jackass put him there to do. That is why he's there, right? To watch Carter? Jackass takes Lionel's warning that she's being secretive, acting squirrelly about phone calls like she's got something going on, and makes light of it. Then, to really make his day, he gets a new assignment: following the boss. Mr. Good News himself. For a guy with a limp he does a hell of a lot of walking. He walks past a church and notices for the first time that they got AA meetings listed on the notice board. For about a second he thinks about going to one, but nah, he's doing good on his own.


End file.
